Recently, Web3 social networking has become a hot topic, with many projects introducing the concept of decentralized social networking. But is there really a demand and foundation for decentralized social networking? When we look at successful social products, the three most critical elements - high-quality content, a large number of active users, and effective long-term incentive mechanisms, are currently difficult to achieve for web3 social projects.
Where are the high-quality and rich content producers?#
In terms of content richness, platforms like Twitter generate 500 million tweets daily, far surpassing web3 projects. Magic Eden on Solana has only 12,000 users, and Farcaster posts only around 1000 daily. The user base is also a weak point for web3 social networking, with almost all projects having active users below 100,000, far less than Web2 social products.
Where are the large number of active and interactive users?#
The largest web3 social platform currently, Steem, has been hovering around 10,000 daily active users for the past 3 years, and its content volume and quality are also difficult to compare with centralized social products. Minds is another well-known decentralized social network, which reached 500,000 registered users by the end of 2018, but has less than 10,000 daily active users, with user interaction and content sharing frequency far below platforms like Twitter.
Where are the long-term incentives, not just short-term rewards?#
Long-term incentives are also a key issue. Most web3 social projects incentivize users to create and interact through tokens, but this short-term behavior-driven approach is difficult to form long-term social habits. Recast has a daily post activity of only 0.3%, while Farcast is as low as 0.03%, showing that token incentives are not sustainable. More importantly, the current incentive mechanisms of these projects - such as rewarding users for producing high-quality content and frequent interaction with tokens - are not ideal. This is because token prices fluctuate dramatically, and users value platform visibility and influence over short-term token earnings.
Reality vs. Ideal#
In conclusion, web3 social networking is still a concept that is greater than its practical implementation. It lacks content richness, a large user base, and long-term incentive mechanisms, which are the three cornerstones of social networking. For web3 social networking to truly take off, it needs to find its own positioning - to meet real user needs rather than hype. Content producers, user base scale, and incentive mechanisms are still the three key elements that need to be addressed, requiring deep innovation in decentralized technology in social scenarios. Overall, the concept of web3 social networking seems to be ahead of reality, and to become mainstream, it will require more practical implementation and exploration.